Who are Crime Author Jonathon Marcel’s Beta Readers
When I first wrote The Samogon Affair, my friend Jerry was my only beta reader. When I told him I was revising my manuscript he offered to help. Jerry and a friend of his, Lynn, have a small, tight-knit support group who meet regularly and enjoy several activities together including sharing books, but they’re not a book club, not even close. I call them The Wayside Readers.
Lynn and Jerry talked me into letting their group read my revised manuscripts and offer feedback. I was cool with it since Jerry had already read The Samogon Affair, and he assured me they would give me what I needed for editing.
When to submit
I typically wait to submit a manuscript to my betas until after I have completed structural and paragraph editing, and the majority of sentence editing; I want them to have a fairly-clean version of the manuscript. Along with the manuscript, I submit a checklist of what I’m looking for in feedback. Why? Because every beta reads differently, each having their own likes and dislikes. One reader might put preference on dialog, while another focuses on scene descriptions. I like that because it gives me unique views that my editor and I may never have considered.
But I don’t want them wasting their time editing, so I try to focus their attention where I need it most. Things I typically list are:
- is the POV clear
- is my voice consistent, not stilted
- does the dialog work
- is the plot engaging
- do my characters resonate
- can you visualize the scenes
- do I lose you in the middle
I’m not looking for advice as much as I am answers to my checklist. Nor am I looking for ideas of what I should do; it’s my story, not theirs. I just want feedback on the story structure, plot, characters, dialog, and descriptions.
To be a beta or a critique partner?
Every now and then, someone wants to evaluate my writing. The person means well, but I have to sit down and reason with them that I’m looking for them to fill the role of a beta, not a critique partner. If being a CP is something they would prefer, then I move them out of the role of Beta and into the role of CP.
Other times, someone will tell me about some antiquated, phony grammar rule I have violated, such as ending a sentence with a preposition, or splitting an infinitive. Again, I have an editor for this, and he and I go round and round about phony grammar rules. Rather, I try to get the reader to show me where in the story she becomes disengaged.
When I get their comments back, I dive right in. And while I’m logging notes, I’m also looking for redundancy among their comments. If they’re all knocking the same thing or disengaging at the same point, I know I have a serious problem.
That’s my life with betas. From time to time, you will see me referencing The Wayside Readers and you might wonder who they are. They’re just a group of Joes who act as my betas.